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Let's see, for that price I can get a 17" laptop with a triple core CPU, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, lightscribe DL DVDRW. Oh, and I can watch a movie without having to hold it, read an ebook without having to hold it, and use full fledged applications on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157424&cm_re=17%22_laptop-_-34-157-424-_-Product

Why folks would buy a tablet they have to hold with way less functionality, for more money, I just don't get.

Yeah... because 10 hours of battery life and weighing one and a half pounds aren't "features". Also: Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc have proven that nobody wants to hold an eBook like a book. That's why they sell so poorly. Much better to have 3 hours of battery life and a warm lap. PS: My $20 iPad case lets me not hold it and watch a movie.

Let's see, for that price I can get a 17" laptop with a triple core CPU, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, lightscribe DL DVDRW. Oh, and I can watch a movie without having to hold it, read an ebook without having to hold it, and use full fledged applications on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157424&cm_re=17%22_laptop-_-34-157-424-_-Product

Why folks would buy a tablet they have to hold with way less functionality, for more money, I just don't get.

Remind us - how much does that laptop weigh again? And how thick is it? You pay a significant premium for portability - in terms of higher cost, lower performance, or both.

Let's see, for that price I can get a 17" laptop with a triple core CPU, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, lightscribe DL DVDRW. Oh, and I can watch a movie without having to hold it, read an ebook without having to hold it, and use full fledged applications on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157424&cm_re=17%22_laptop-_-34-157-424-_-Product

Why folks would buy a tablet they have to hold with way less functionality, for more money, I just don't get.

I think if your operating philosophy requires that you conclude tens of millions of people making a specific purchase decision must be idiots you should re-evaluate that philosophy because it obviously provides little to no predictive power.

Let's see, for that price I can get a 17" laptop with a triple core CPU, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, lightscribe DL DVDRW. Oh, and I can watch a movie without having to hold it, read an ebook without having to hold it, and use full fledged applications on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157424&cm_re=17%22_laptop-_-34-157-424-_-Product

Why folks would buy a tablet they have to hold with way less functionality, for more money, I just don't get.

The three most popular brands I see in homes by a long shot are Trendnet, Zonenet, and the bottom of the line Linksys. That is nope, nope, and....nada. You seem to think the average Joe is buying those nice Linux routers when IRL the most popular models by a fairly large margin are ones like these wireless and these wired. As a matter of fact the Trendnet TW100 you see on the wired page is one of the most popular routers in this area because it is cheap and pretty reliable. Go ahead, look up some of those under $40 routers and see how many have even gotten a SINGLE update, much less support IPV6. I think you'll find these things simply don't have the hardware capability.

You seem to be forgetting that thanks to our "corporate yay!" attitude in the USA not mandating squat it simply isn't in the companies interest to update these things when they can force you to buy a new one instead. And the average under $50 router has less than 4Mb of flash, that simply isn't large enough to update, nor is the CPU on most capable of processing IPV6 128bit addresses.

So I stand by my statement. When the switchover comes you are gonna have MASSIVE outages in most homes unless the telecos/cablecos give out modems that auto-translate IPV4>IPV6 which I haven't heard of any offering this, have you? Hell I don't even think these cheap shitty Motorola modems given out by my cableco are capable of IPV6 which means they'll have to be shitcanned as well. That is literally trainloads of eWaste that is ALL gonna be dumped on practically the same date. As unlike those old PCs that can be cleaned and re-purposed these routers and switches will be just like the old analog phones: Completely unusable in any way.

The three most popular brands I see in homes by a long shot are Trendnet, Zonenet, and the bottom of the line Linksys. That is nope, nope, and....nada. You seem to think the average Joe is buying those nice Linux routers when IRL the most popular models by a fairly large margin are ones like these wireless and these wired. As a matter of fact the Trendnet TW100 you see on the wired page is one of the most popular routers in this area because it is cheap and pretty reliable. Go ahead, look up some of those under $40 routers and see how many have even gotten a SINGLE update, much less support IPV6. I think you'll find these things simply don't have the hardware capability.

You seem to be forgetting that thanks to our "corporate yay!" attitude in the USA not mandating squat it simply isn't in the companies interest to update these things when they can force you to buy a new one instead. And the average under $50 router has less than 4Mb of flash, that simply isn't large enough to update, nor is the CPU on most capable of processing IPV6 128bit addresses.

So I stand by my statement. When the switchover comes you are gonna have MASSIVE outages in most homes unless the telecos/cablecos give out modems that auto-translate IPV4>IPV6 which I haven't heard of any offering this, have you? Hell I don't even think these cheap shitty Motorola modems given out by my cableco are capable of IPV6 which means they'll have to be shitcanned as well. That is literally trainloads of eWaste that is ALL gonna be dumped on practically the same date. As unlike those old PCs that can be cleaned and re-purposed these routers and switches will be just like the old analog phones: Completely unusable in any way.

Unlocked smartphones cost $500, not $250.

Oh really?

I've switched probably 100 clients to Open Office. Almost none of them have had a single issue, and frequently many of them PREFER OO to MS Office, as the GUI is familiar, and the new MS Office is foreign and looks like recycled space candy.

At about $410 a pop:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116858&cm_re=microsoft_office-_-32-116-858-_-Product

Times 100:

$410,000 is what I've saved clients. None of them needed new training, had any downtime, or any other cost. AND when they switch to a new computer, they won't have to pay ANOTHER $400 (or more!) to re license office for a new machine. So long term I've probably saved clients over $1 million dollars.

And I do it for $50 an hour.

Fuck you Microsoft. LOL

NewEgg sells this sweet little fanless card which hooks neatly into VDPAU and is only US$30.

... hard disk space may well emerge as the alternative constraint.

Except it costs about $120 to upgrade the HDD to 1tb (the $100 drive doesn't quite fit)

I would think a lot of people knowledgable enough to implement the software hack are knowledgable enough to upgrade the Hard Drive as well.

There are already fanless graphics cards proper, so if you're simply displaying slides you're not going to need a 460GTX so.. yeah, what's the point of this product again? It's faster than the fanless cards I know of, but a gamer wouldn't touch it anyhow (added latencies anyone).

I got a case with a mesh top, and a ridiculous zalman heatsink. Installed the heatsink so that the cpu fan pointed up and out of the case (through the open top), and the case fans hardly ever turn on at all.

My only problem is that the cat likes to sleep on top of the case now, but the case fan kicking in scares him off.

I'm completely spoiled by custom keybindings via xbindkeys and this device. The format is nearly perfection for me, the wireless tracking is excellent, and the keyboard itself is pretty good, too. Can't imagine ever going back to using separate keyboard and pointer devices.

Worse is for those who DO want a fast CPU but also want expandability. At least those who want a low end CPU and an expandable platform can go AMD. Those who want a fast processor don't really have that option.

This isnt entirely true. AMD has options that arent considered "consumer grade" but are as cheap as Intels $1000 high end "consumer grade" and I'll speak more of this is a moment.

The blunt fact is that the high end sandy bridge processors beat every previous quad core CPU from BOTH AMD and INTEL by quite a significant margin. They don't quite keep up with the 980x in highly multithreaded benchmarks

If you want to build a high end system for multi-threaded performance without breaking the bank with $1000 parts, a pair of Opteron 6128's score only slightly worse than a single i7 980X.

Thats a true 16-core server system you will be building, only benchmarks slightly worse than Intels flagship i7 980X, and its notably cheaper (2 x 6128 + 1 x motherboard for $952, less than that i7-980X chip for $1000 that still needs a motherboard.)

Worse is for those who DO want a fast CPU but also want expandability. At least those who want a low end CPU and an expandable platform can go AMD. Those who want a fast processor don't really have that option.

This isnt entirely true. AMD has options that arent considered "consumer grade" but are as cheap as Intels $1000 high end "consumer grade" and I'll speak more of this is a moment.

The blunt fact is that the high end sandy bridge processors beat every previous quad core CPU from BOTH AMD and INTEL by quite a significant margin. They don't quite keep up with the 980x in highly multithreaded benchmarks

If you want to build a high end system for multi-threaded performance without breaking the bank with $1000 parts, a pair of Opteron 6128's score only slightly worse than a single i7 980X.

Thats a true 16-core server system you will be building, only benchmarks slightly worse than Intels flagship i7 980X, and its notably cheaper (2 x 6128 + 1 x motherboard for $952, less than that i7-980X chip for $1000 that still needs a motherboard.)

Worse is for those who DO want a fast CPU but also want expandability. At least those who want a low end CPU and an expandable platform can go AMD. Those who want a fast processor don't really have that option.

This isnt entirely true. AMD has options that arent considered "consumer grade" but are as cheap as Intels $1000 high end "consumer grade" and I'll speak more of this is a moment.

The blunt fact is that the high end sandy bridge processors beat every previous quad core CPU from BOTH AMD and INTEL by quite a significant margin. They don't quite keep up with the 980x in highly multithreaded benchmarks

If you want to build a high end system for multi-threaded performance without breaking the bank with $1000 parts, a pair of Opteron 6128's score only slightly worse than a single i7 980X.

Thats a true 16-core server system you will be building, only benchmarks slightly worse than Intels flagship i7 980X, and its notably cheaper (2 x 6128 + 1 x motherboard for $952, less than that i7-980X chip for $1000 that still needs a motherboard.)

Funny, I see 373 laptops with HDMI. Everything from cheapo $400 to overpriced $4000 PCs.

Also your search is inaccurate. Newegg doesn't return results for all PCs that have HDMI simply because you typed in "HDMI" in the search field. I just tried that and it missed a bunch of PCs that say they have HDMI in their "Details" sections.

Welcome to 2011. Online shopping has been happening for a while now ;)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231417&Tpk=N82E16820231417

Wait until 3pm today and this will be a Newegg shell shocker for $75.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424&Tpk=N82E16820231424
 

Welcome to 2011. Online shopping has been happening for a while now ;)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231417&Tpk=N82E16820231417

Wait until 3pm today and this will be a Newegg shell shocker for $75.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424&Tpk=N82E16820231424
 

That's exactly what I did after reading the article-- ran off to Newegg to check if the manufacturing variable is being directly correlated to sales prices... and it is!

thanks for the confirmation, I just went there and ordered 4GB more RAM (bringing me up to 8GB) for $49.99... I am not super happy with the warranty process or the fact that I had to RMA my last pair of these DIMMs, but they are smoking fast: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK they have 8-8-8-21 timings which are misdetected by my Gigabyte motherboard, classy. I want all four DIMMs identical though. I intend to upgrade to a six-core processor (I have Phenom II X3 720 now) when they come down to $100, which is the most I've spent on anything in this computer so far. RAM, Video card, CPU, and motherboard were each $100 when I bought in. Now, I'm doubling my ram for half the original memory cost...

"I hear ya, but on the other hand your new 1155 mobo is likely to have 6 GB/sec SATA and USB 3.0 which your existing 1366 mobo most likely does not have."

Likely? Source? Sandy Bridge doesn't guarantee USB 3.0, it's not even part of the chipset features

It's not a feature of Sandy Bridge. Its a feature of newer motherboards - look at recent offerings on Newegg. Already 35 of the 271 Intel motherboards listed on Newegg already have these higher speed interfaces (some as cheap $110). The point is updating your motherboard likely adds additional performance independent of the processor socket.

I've bought 3 computers in the last year sans OS - no Windows. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173011&cm_re=zotac_ion-_-56-173-011-_-Product I could find more but you get the idea, computers without Windows exist and run just fine.

I have also created documents and spreadsheets and presentations without Office. http://www.openoffice.org/

Please show me evidence that any OEM will drop your warranty if you run another OS on their hardware.

Sorry but you're full of it.

So the rumors are true: according to the article all Sandy Bridge CPUs are Socket LGA 1155, replacing the 18 month old LGA 1366 and 17 month old LGA 1156.

I'm all for bigger and better but it's a pain to throw away a $500 motherboard every 18 months because Intel decided they want to change the socket.

On the other hand the latest 6-core processors from AMD still support 3+ yr old AM2+ motherboards. It's nice to see someone still looking out for the budget shopper.

Here ya go

Today, yes, and Fusion I/O total throughput isn't that impressive, just look at the OCZ RevoDrive X2 for comparison. The Crucial RealSSD ($2.18/GB) drives are SATA 6G and are currently pushing over 350MB/s. And we're talking current generation controllers. You really think we'll see SATA 12G before we completely saturate SATA 6G? All we need to do is take a Crucial RealSSD, add in a second controller and internal raid and we're looking at nearly 700MB/s of non-sequential peak read throughput. We could overshoot SATA 6G that fast!

The reason drive manufacturers aren't pushing new controllers and more exotic controller designs is because the VAST majority of computers still don't support SATA 6G.

Okay, I was a bit off - been buying 12 port switches. Here's a SMC 24 port switch for $200. This one is managed and runs $300. I did see them running about twice as much, but I don't know enough to really say why you'd buy those ones.

Okay, I was a bit off - been buying 12 port switches. Here's a SMC 24 port switch for $200. This one is managed and runs $300. I did see them running about twice as much, but I don't know enough to really say why you'd buy those ones.

Yeah I just looked that up:
6950 = $300
6970 = $360

$60 savings, yippy!! 20% off!!

I wouldn't be surprised if AMD secretly released the hack to sell more $300 cards. Seriously what idiot is still paying $300+ for a video card in 2010? 2001 called and what their video card prices back.

Yeah I just looked that up:
6950 = $300
6970 = $360

$60 savings, yippy!! 20% off!!

I wouldn't be surprised if AMD secretly released the hack to sell more $300 cards. Seriously what idiot is still paying $300+ for a video card in 2010? 2001 called and what their video card prices back.

Case modding is still interesting to those still interested. The times have changed due to demand. Back when case modding was widespread, it was mainly because your computer case came in two or three options: Beige, Tan, or Ugly.

Nowadays, you can buy an aesthetically-interesting molded plastic case, for $40. Hell, they practically shove the clear plexi windows and LEDs down your throat. I had to go out of my way to get a full-featured case with good quality, but still a nondescript black-box appearance. (The CoolerMaster Centurion series are good for this. Nice, light, cool semi-mesh build, without stupid side windows and crap.)

Case modding has become less of a hardcore-computer-geek past time, and more of an artist-who-likes-computers-too concentration. Look at some of the hardware specs of the systems these cases were built around; they're lackluster, old tech. Nowadays you can build a quad-core AMD AM3 3Ghz setup, with 16GB DDR3-1333 RAM, SATA III, USB 3.0, a 1TB WD:Black drive at 7200rpm and 64MB cache, and an Antec 640watt PSU - all for $525 from Newegg.com, shipped. One would think they could at least come up to par on these hardware specs, if they have the time and money to spend on the external pretties.

I mean, there's even this kickass antique-lookalike case from Red Wood for the people that want something Steampunk. It's $120 on Newegg, but can be purchased new from other online retailers for $89. I have a hard time convincing myself it's even worth the 2 hours to mod up cases for water cooling purposes anymore.

So, in tl;dr summary: Case modding isn't really about the geeks anymore. It's about the artists who like tech.

Case modding is still interesting to those still interested. The times have changed due to demand. Back when case modding was widespread, it was mainly because your computer case came in two or three options: Beige, Tan, or Ugly.

Nowadays, you can buy an aesthetically-interesting molded plastic case, for $40. Hell, they practically shove the clear plexi windows and LEDs down your throat. I had to go out of my way to get a full-featured case with good quality, but still a nondescript black-box appearance. (The CoolerMaster Centurion series are good for this. Nice, light, cool semi-mesh build, without stupid side windows and crap.)

Case modding has become less of a hardcore-computer-geek past time, and more of an artist-who-likes-computers-too concentration. Look at some of the hardware specs of the systems these cases were built around; they're lackluster, old tech. Nowadays you can build a quad-core AMD AM3 3Ghz setup, with 16GB DDR3-1333 RAM, SATA III, USB 3.0, a 1TB WD:Black drive at 7200rpm and 64MB cache, and an Antec 640watt PSU - all for $525 from Newegg.com, shipped. One would think they could at least come up to par on these hardware specs, if they have the time and money to spend on the external pretties.

I mean, there's even this kickass antique-lookalike case from Red Wood for the people that want something Steampunk. It's $120 on Newegg, but can be purchased new from other online retailers for $89. I have a hard time convincing myself it's even worth the 2 hours to mod up cases for water cooling purposes anymore.

So, in tl;dr summary: Case modding isn't really about the geeks anymore. It's about the artists who like tech.

Some of the following are shown "standing up" (as tower cases) but all of them are designed as "desktop style" cases, which you seem to be calling "a horizontal case."

Don't use a power supply that's included with a case unless it's a Silverstone, Antec, or (possibly rebranded) FSP. Anything else is guaranteed to be crap. Crap PSU's can cause all kinds of subtle problems including data corruption and random crashes. No need to go overboard on the wattage though. Figure out how many watts you machine will draw and buy 25% more.

$101 Antec Minuet 350 http://www.amazon.com/Slimline-Micro-Pc-Case-350PS/dp/B0012QLUAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293035737&sr=8-1

$114 Antec NSK2480 http://www.amazon.com/Antec-NSK2480-Desktop-case-380W/dp/B000T4MRF8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1293035814&sr=1-1

$113 NSK 1480 http://www.amazon.com/NSK1480-Microatx-Mini-Desktop-Case/dp/B0012QP6QY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1293035882&sr=1-1

$40 HEC 7106BB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121010

$29.99 and it's yours.

And so we will move onto one of these, a camera in my watch or Van Eck phreaking gizmo in my shoe (with all due respect to Mr. Smart) and so on ....

I assume they did not strip everyone naked and checked their cavities and recent surgery marks...

Umm? Or how about this?

Maybe you should stop buying cables at brick and mortar stores? They always rip you off on cables, no exceptions - the theory being, I imagine, that you need to have the cable right now or else you wouldn't be buying it from them.

Interesting. I stand corrected. I never had seen any, but a search on newegg gave me this. Thanks...

So how does it run? Most of my customers go with the Phenoms so the only Athlon I've built was a 7550 dual which did run pretty well for a basic game/media PC. I personally went with the Phenom II 925 which is just $30 more than your chip, but I do a lot of video transcoding and that 6MB of L3 does help there. ever try to transcode video with it? How does it do? mulitasking performance?

As for TFA in the sub $300 section and especially the sub $200 section you can't beat AMD. After rigging their compiler I've been avoiding Intel at the shop and my customers couldn't be happier. The only time I touch Intel now is picking up socket 775 CPUs to help customers and family get a little more life out of their machine before going for a new one. I mean it is hard to turn down two 2.6GHz Pentium Ds for just $60 shipped, which should get my boys another year or two out of their PCs before I get around to building them AMD quads.

I am curious about the no cache Athlon IIs though, simply for those like my boys or customers that don't do much heavy lifting. I figure about another 2 years with their Pentium Ds and 4650 GPUs for the MMOs they play and then they'll be getting AMD too. The price difference for Intel just isn't worth it unless you have some app that is sucking down CPU like crap through a goose and you need that extra juice no matter the cost. So any info will be helpful, especially those that have experience running Photoshop CS and other graphics apps on them. I have a couple of print shop customers and if they can get decent CS performance out of them like the AMD quad Phenoms I've been selling them the extra savings could speed up replacement of the old machines.

Quiet is nice, but lately I've gone for size (well actually they're both related). MicroATX is damned nice, and miniITX is increasingly appealing. It's great having a top-end gaming PC you can pick up with one hand and carry around with no effort.

I've been eying this case for some time. Must resist... urge.

Well the problem is gonna be if you get a teeny tiny the heat dissipation requirements is gonna severally hamper you. if you aren't afraid to DIY there are several shuttle boxes that will take up to a 95w AMD quad, and most of those have not only a nice IGP, but also a PCIe low pro slot that'll let them upgrade easily.

That said if you really want a teeny tiny and don't mind DIY there is also this one which I have built for a couple of clients as a Windows 7 media tank and it is pretty simple to put together. Heck with the little picture book it comes with my 15 year old could put the thing together, and unlike the eMachine you placed (which isn't a bad box BTW) this one is a dual core.

That said I'd probably go with the shuttle if it were me. With the shuttle YOU decide how powerful you want it, YOU decide how much RAM, HDD or SSD, etc and YOU can upgrade to a 5xxx or 6xxx low pro if you need more juice. I built one of the shuttles with a 925 quad and a 5450 low pro 1GB and the thing cranks out the pretty on games like Bioshock II and Wolfenstein like nobody's business, and still takes up almost no room on the shelf. Happy hunting and go AMD!

Considering buying a new HDTV right now. Many are 'Internet Ready" which means it runs "apps". For a smartphone I suppose "apps" make sense but when I can just a good monitor and put a small Eee pc behind it with hdmi, gigabit ethernet, basically the whole Internet and any "app" I want, those Internet Ready devices fall flat. Why would I limit myself to today's hyped snapshot of the Internet experience? I'll keep them in mind for my fridge though.

There are advantages that local stores have always had that online stores have not.

The biggie has always been convenience. If I have to have (or merely just want) something right now, Amazon and other online retailers are not an option. Also, if I'm looking for, say, a new keyboard, I can't really see it, touch it, feel it, find out if I'm going to like it from an online store unless I suck it up, buy it, and hope for the best. And of course, customer service for things like exchanges and returns is much easier to deal with locally instead of having to call and get an RMA, package whatever up, ship it back, wait for the replacement, etc.

One of the main reasons I like shopping online is the base price of the whatever-I'm-buying. There have been several times I've wanted something right now, and I'm willing to pay the sales tax and even a 10% or so premium on getting it. I go to the store and find that it's 25% or even 50% more expensive.

Prime example that's fresh in my mind: Right now, I need a new power supply. I'd like to pick up a Cooler Master 1200 W supply. On Newegg.com, it costs $249. If I wanted to go pick that very same item up at my local Micro Center, it would cost me $299.99, 20% more, and that doesn't have a damn thing to do with sales tax.

I realize that Micro Center has additional costs associated with having physical stores, but that's completely irrelevant to me. All I know is that unless I'm in a real hurt, there's not a chance in hell that I'm going to essentially light $50 on fire and watch it burn just for the privilege of buying locally. $5 or $10, maybe, but $50!!? Of course, if you go to the store and show them the Newegg.com page, they'll tell you that they don't match online retailer prices. Okay, fine, then you won't get my business.

I have a feeling that this is going the way of the music industry. Brick-and-mortar retailers are feeling the pinch of a new avenue of competition. Instead of responding in a sane and professional manner, they're lobbying to stick online retailers with having to account for sales tax all over creation. Incidentally, that would put an undue burden on online retailers, since unlike brick-and-mortar stores, it means that they would have to maintain an up-to-date database of sales tax rules for every place in the country, not just the area in which they operate.

Still, even if I have to pay an extra 6% on that power supply to get it from Newegg.com, it's a hell of a lot better deal than paying an extra 6% plus 20% to get it from Micro Center. What will be the next lame excuse used by brick-and-mortar stores for not being able to compete? What will they next be lobbying for to keep their old and busted business model lining their pockets?

I have this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131274
This is a decently high end motherboard for when it was released, but it comes with a Realtek style onboard sound with a breakout board that plus into a special slot. I had to cease using it, the 60 cycle hum was so bad that you could barely hear the audio over it. This is what happens with the majority of these onboard cards, unless you have decent speakers hooked to it, you probably wouldn't be able to tell, but hook up some headphones, or even a cheap set of speakers with an actual amp, and you will be able to tell the difference. I am not an audiophile, I have worked in the sound industry, but will be the first to admit that my hearing isn't great anymore. Try it for yourself, go buy a discrete sound card at your favorite big box and try it out, if you don't think it makes a difference, it is possible that you have a decent onboard sound card, they are rare, but they happen. No loss if you want to return the card, but don't slam others because you haven't tried, it takes no audiophile to hear the difference.

Let's also not forget that consoles generally are a lot cheaper than a top of the line gaming PC. Even the PS3 which everyone said was way too expensive with an initial price of $500, is still around half the price of a top of the line processor. People don't want to spend $3000 on a console, because it will be out of date in 4 years anyway. Just as a top of the line PC would be.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220698 Possibly Newegg will restock this item?

At 12.1", that's not really a netbook.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220698 Possibly Newegg will restock this item?

If it weren't for Linux, Windows would cost $300 or so per seat.

Only because MS snips and picks features. To get a system equivalent in functionality, Windows costs way more.

Ultimate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116718&cm_re=windows_7_ultimate_64-_-32-116-718-_-Product
VS2010 Pro: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116864&cm_re=visual_studio_2010-_-32-116-864-_-Product

Easily a thousand or more if you want an "official" platform that isn't crippled and begins to approach what is available in every Linux distro.

If it weren't for Linux, Windows would cost $300 or so per seat.

Only because MS snips and picks features. To get a system equivalent in functionality, Windows costs way more.

Ultimate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116718&cm_re=windows_7_ultimate_64-_-32-116-718-_-Product
VS2010 Pro: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116864&cm_re=visual_studio_2010-_-32-116-864-_-Product

Easily a thousand or more if you want an "official" platform that isn't crippled and begins to approach what is available in every Linux distro.

My suggestion would be to buy an unlocked phone. They are readily available Here and can be used on any compatible network. The only drawback is that there only seems to be one carrier (T-Mobile) offering reduced pricing on service for a non-subsidized phone.

Unless you go by price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887&cm_re=radeon_5970-_-14-102-887-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125349&cm_re=gtx_580-_-14-125-349-_-Product

Unless you go by price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887&cm_re=radeon_5970-_-14-102-887-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125349&cm_re=gtx_580-_-14-125-349-_-Product